Kitsap County Thinking of Water in a New Way

Water is too precious to use it for transporting sediments, wastes and pollution into Puget Sound, the Kitsap County commissioners said when they passed their “Water as a Resource” policy in June of 2009.

“Kitsap County’s four sewage treatment plants discharge over 1.5 billion gallons per year into Puget Sound,” the policy states in a section on sewage. “With additional treatment, this water could be used to reduce the dependence on groundwater and reduce pollution loading to Puget Sound.”

County Commissioner Charlotte Garrido said she would like to see water managed more like a natural system.

County Commissioner Steve Bauer said this new way of thinking about sewage and stormwater does not come easily to folks accustomed to operating large-scale sewer utilities.

“I really hope we can step back and look at this as a utility that might provide a support system for septics,” Bauer said.

Emerging technology may soon allow homeowners to install a small unit next to their septic tanks to treat effluent to essentially drinking water standards. This “wastewater” could then be used for watering lawns and gardens, perhaps even flushing toilets. Theoretically, if you can find uses for the water, then drainfields would not be needed — though such systems are not yet allowed under state regulations.

Bauer also favors charging residential customers based on the amount of sewage they discharge instead of the current flat rates. One goal is to work with water utilities, which mostly charge by volume, and use their water-consumption figures to calculate sewer bills.

Bauer said he sympathizes with older people on limited incomes who have no children at home. Compared to large families, they may use relatively little water, yet they are charged the same.

“Water districts have a message of water conservation,” Bauer said. “We would like to create a conservation issue on the sewer side as well.”

The strength of sewage is another factor that raises costs for the system, Bauer said. If people would compost their food scraps instead of using their garbage disposal, and if they would avoid using the toilet as a wastebasket, it would reduce the costs of operating the sewage treatment plant.

If the county and its residents got serious about these initiatives, Bauer said, it could help the county reduce planned sewer upgrades of $300 million over the next 20 years.